


Stolen Joy

by Lusksinger



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Bard - Freeform, Death, Dwarf, Escort, Family, Love, babau, consort, joy, mountain dwarf, violin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 19:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11743611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lusksinger/pseuds/Lusksinger
Summary: Brandi lives in the Acir Mountains entertaining her people with violin music in the day and entertaining them during the night with her body. Though she's a bard, she is also a consort and highly respected in her community for the work that she does. Brandi does not believe or care for the notion of love until she has a daughter. It is the only time she's felt the emotion in her life and it consumes her in the best of ways. It is a time of joy for her and her fellow dwarves -- and all good things cannot last forever.*~*~*~*This story starts after a moment in my campaign in which my character and my boyfriend's character have sex with one another in the bath. Since my character has a strength of 20, we decided that it would only make sense that her pelvic thrust would break the bathtub.





	Stolen Joy

**Author's Note:**

> I've written about Brandi before. Technically she already has a backstory post that's floating around on dA, but my writing has improved since then and now that I'm finally getting to use her in a campaign that isn't going to just be dropped out of the blue, I get to actually flesh out her story. So I opted for a more personal perspective and to add in a bit of detail to coincide with our heavily religion-based campaign setting. It's also just nice to give more personality to a character who felt really stoic before when I made her, because it was my first ever campaign. Also wrote this just to kind of get a feel for her again and know what she's like and really dig into what drives her to keep living in spite of her pain.
> 
> I hadn't named her daughter before, but since I'm always a sucker for name meanings and the main theme of Brandi's life is a loss of joy, I went with Desta which means "joy" in Ahmaric. Funnily enough, the drunken dwarf cleric is my boyfriend's character, so it puts me a little bit at ease to RP back and forth with him. It's partially why, rather than make a new character, I went with an old character who had a similar personality to the one he's created. After all, it's not hard for dwarves to bond as long as they've both got alcohol to share.
> 
> Brandi's name is a play on the word "brandy", but it is pronounced "Bran-die". If you've ever considered how a dwarf would actually speak, the pronunciation makes a lot more sense.

After assisting the cleric in mending the tub and clearing up the remainder of the bath water, Brandi lay to rest beside the dwarf. Her mind felt heavy and though Kelvash seemed able to fall asleep quite easily, she fought the urge to toss and turn next to him in the sheets. Eventually her body gave in and she fell into an uneasy rest. Her dreams turned to days from before her adventuring life began. She made a healthy stack of gold as a courtesan and was well-respected within her community. Though many seemed fond of her, her emotions never settled on any one dwarf, no matter how fine the beard may have been or how pleasurable the evening. Brandi enjoyed her work, but that was all it would be: a means to enjoy herself and live comfortably.

It was surprising she hadn't become a mother sooner, but when pregnancy came about Brandi decided to cut back on escorting and focus more on her bard skills. Those unable to keep her company in the night instead gathered around in the day to listen to her play the violin. Dwarven men sat along the mountain side, heads propped up on their hands, letting tears stream down their cheeks and into their fine beards when she played her sad refrains. The dwarven women remained enthralled at her skill, but seemed to enjoy the music most when all the bards joined together to perform as one. Though Brandi's music was beautiful, it rarely brought a smile to one's face. She was skilled with the ability to make one ponder rather than rejoice.

When Desta was born, Brandi fell in love for the first time. Chubby fingers and fat toes, pudgy face and a plump nose, and a full head of bushy, dark hair. Desta's eyes were the only eyes Brandi had ever gazed into that made her heart flutter -- she became hopelessly in love with her little girl. One of her clients with a particular gift for toy making fashioned a beautiful doll for Desta embroidered with gold thread and curly red hair. Her little one adored it and carried it with her everywhere. She lovingly covered it with drool in her early days and with dust as she reached the ages of being able to toddle about. Her doll, Sei, was easily her best friend in spite of having plenty of other dwarven children to play with. These were the best years of their lives. Trade with neighboring dwarves and humans was going well, harvests were bountiful, and it was the first time in ages since they'd had so many young ones running about the mountain filling it with laughter.

After a fashion, Brandi slowly eased back into her work as an escort and would leave Desta in the care of her friends. As a unit, they raised the children together. So though Brandi might be gone in the night earning money in another's bed, she would be with Desta during the day and watching over her with a group of maybe five more young boys and girls while their parents were busy mining or traveling to nearby markets away from the Acir Mountains. Their joy was immeasurable.

Brandi could still clearly remember tucking Desta in with her doll and exchanging kisses before meeting with her first client of the night. A whispered "I love you" from the rocky entrance before she left arm-in-arm with a very drunk but pleased looking dwarf who led her to his home. While they rested in the bed together, Brandi's eyes were drawn to the carved out windows in the stone. For just a brief moment she thought she'd seen something pass by outside. In her brief moment of distraction, the dwarf beside her fell asleep at her side so she rose, collected her gold from his nearby pouch, and slipped outside.

Straining to hear in the still night air, nothing made its way to her ears. However, she felt uneasy. Carefully, Brandi crept through the familiar pathways back to her home, taking the shortest route possible unless a sense of dread washed over her, forcing her to take a side path. Before she could reach the house, she heard a neighbor's scream. The deep booming voice of a miner filled with rage followed by the smashing of furniture. A strange sound followed, almost like speech but also like ocean waves followed, but loud and crashing. She broke into a run, bursting through the front door to her home.

Standing over Desta who barely clung to life was a skeletal creature that held her daughter down with its cruelly taloned feet. When it turned to face her, entrails swung lazily from its protruding teeth. Its body oozed what looked like acid onto the stone floor and her daughter's twitching form. If it could be called a smile, it did so, causing the entrails trapped in its teeth to fall to the floor across its feet. It spoke to her, that same ocean-like sound washing over her ears. It began laughing.

Before she'd thought the process through, her hands had closed around the table by the door, wrenching off the leg, and launching forward at the beast screaming furiously as she bashed at any part of it she could reach. It moved faster than she expected, but not so fast that she couldn't keep up with it. When it landed a blow on her, she was thrown backwards into the wall, but scrambled up again ignoring her wounds. With the cry of a beast, she thrust the table leg through its chest and kept throwing her weight against it until she felt the splintered wood force its way through the other side. The demonic beast forced a choked laugh, speaking its last words, "Baenre cok diemrey nocutero." It fell limp onto the floor and Brandi instantly turned to find her daughter.

It was far too late. Though she'd been alive when Brandi walked in, she had likely died before the scuffle even began. The creature seemed to have toyed with her like a cat with a mouse before ripping her stomach open and feasting on her. Outside Brandi could hear the screams of rage, of fear, of people offering aid between the houses. She should get up, should move, but her knees buckled and she lifted her daughter and held her close. From Desta's hand fell the little doll. After a long, pained moment, she let her fell back to the floor and scooped up the doll and her violin on the way out the door.

In every home a mother wept, a father ripped out the hair from his beard, and children lay dead. Most of the creatures had escaped, with only two having been slain. Someone who was well-traveled knew the name after examining one of the bodies: Babau. The word etched itself into Brandi's mind. She would not forget. Whatever it had spoken to her before she took its life was forever part of her memories. What ever it had said, she would learn it. She would find where the others had gone and she would kill them all. There would be no mercy.

The dwarves gathered their things. Though they had much, they carried very little. The men shaved their strong beards, leaving them with weak chins and sorrowful faces. They left together as one, hoping to warn the nearby hill dwarves before the same fate befell them, if it had not happened already. As they walked, Brandi played her violin. Other bards slowly joined. It was the first time anyone other than herself played a tune so melancholy. Without full awareness, Brandi's feet stopped moving forward. No one questioned her, rather they walked slowly around her. The motion brought her back to the moment. These men had been proud warriors, strong miners and fighters, wise clerics, brave dwarves. To see them so frail and to see the loss of hope in everyone filled her with an indescribable rage. With her hands shaking, she lifted the violin and snapped it and its bow in half before tossing them aside. No one stopped her as she strode off into the forest, drinking from a jug she'd swiped on the way out of their city.

If she couldn't find a way to find and fight these creatures, she hoped at least she'd locate a nearby town. She longed for a warm bar to drink herself to death in.

Five years of adventuring had led her here, in the bed with a drunk dwarven cleric who, judging by his gaze, had seen horrors worse than herself. Though she couldn't imagine it, she didn't want to. She had enough horrors of her own. The company was nice, the sex was pleasant, and so she indulged if only for the moment. She'd traveled this far armed with more knowledge than when she'd began five years ago. She'd learned the language the Babau spoke and knew that, given the lifestyle of such creatures, they had not necessarily acted of their own accord. They had been working for someone. 

"You have too much joy. We will take your joy."

When she'd impaled the beast, it had uttered only one thing. Not a plea for mercy, but a praise. "House Baenre will prevail." Though she was still learning, this place she and her three companions were currently travelling in seemed to have a trail that might lead to the answers she needed. So far her journey had led her here to seek out the Duergar. No matter what it took, she'd get the information she needed, even if it meant her own death. It wasn't revenge just for herself, but for all she had once lived with. They had the lives of over thirty children to answer for. It was a crime that would not go unpunished as long as she still had breath in her lungs.

When she woke the next morning in Kelvash's bed, she glanced over to admire his beard. If nothing else, he still had enough pride to continue on. She admired him from the start for that fact alone, even with the stare of a dead man walking. Perhaps he'd be helpful in her journey for vengeance.


End file.
